Wood Shaft Storage

[bpjon]

Due to a rather interesting and complicated trade, I am shortly going to recieve 675 raw wood shafts of assorted woods.  Since I don't see myself making 675 arrows in the near future, I will need to store most of them for some time.  What is the best way to store shafts for long term storage?  Laid flat, bundled together, individually wrapped in tissue paper and kept under glass in a musueum setting?  Help me out, I'm confused.

[TIM B]

I would not have them bundled with rubber bands.  In the past I have got shafts from places that had them bundled like that and they would hold the bend they were placed in.  Flat in arrow boxes with low humidity (in the AC) would be my preference

[Don Stokes]

When I closed down Tallahatchie Woodworks, I found myself with about 5,000 primo wood shafts. I stored them simply laid on their sides in loose plastic bags on a wide shelf in an unheated storage building, sorted by spine and length so I knew what was what, and they stayed that way for more than 10 years before I did something with them. The only deterioration was some darkening on the top layer where the sun got to them through a window. They maintained straightness well, and were as good as the day they were made, maybe better from the stress relief from the long-term storage.

I wouldn't bundle them in any way that puts stress on the wood.

[Shakes.602]

I Stand mine up, havent had so much trouble with bends either. maybe my house is Drier than most?? (Surely Not in RAIN SOAKED Indiana  :rolleyes:  )

[snag]

If you have tapered shafts definitely DON'T band them together. That tapered end will warp over time. It's ok to band them if you just do it up where they are parallel.

[Jack Denbow]

I just lay them flat in arrow boxes. You should be able to put about 200 to a box. I usually buy 100 shafts at a time and taper them and cut and put the nock and point taper on them then spine and weigh them and just put them in a box.
Jack

[SuperK]

Get a vaccum food sealer.  That WILL keep any moisture out.

[Don Stokes]

Moisture will not be a problem if they're stored indoors, with or without air conditioning, in most of the USA. A storage building without air conditioning will be warm enough from the sun to keep the moisture content down. I did store mine in plastic bags, but they were not sealed. The plastic covering slows down any moisture change in humid weather, enough that the spine of my shafts didn't change in over 10 years before I sorted them into matched dozens and sold them. I still have a thousand or so, my personal lifetime supply, and they have now been stored 14 years without any change in spine or significant warping.

[magnus]

Listen to Don. He knows what he's talking about. I got some shafts from him and they were as straight as they could be and right on in spine!

[Bjorn]

I store mine like Don says.